How to Reach and Engage With Millennials in 2016

Three reasons why and how business owners can reach young adults in the new year.

Business owners that want to grow their business in 2016 need to concentrate on improving their targeting and the quality of their marketing content. An archer is only as effective as the quality of their aiming and of the equipment they use. Similarly, marketers are only as effective as their ability to target their ideal consumer with engaging content that leads to conversion. And just as in real archery, this is easier said than done.

Millennials will remain a key target for marketers hunting for their ideal customer amongst the millions of people online. This demographic is still at a time of rising importance in market terms of market influence and buying power. To help business owner and marketers prepare for 2016, this article will focus on how and why business owners should do a better a job of targeting Millennials in the new year.

A Growing Audience of Savings Savvy Online Customers

Millennials are entering a time when they are seeing their buying power grow along with a need for a wider array of items. They are buying houses, starting families, building careers, etc. There has been a lot of recent data that shows just how much their buying power has grown and how it affects their shopping habits.

A Nielsen report from October 2015 found that US millennials spend nearly $200 billion per year. And much of that spending happens online. The same report noted that about one in five (19%) millennials spent over $1,000 online in the past year.

Millennials are also an audience that is highly prone to use the internet to search and shop for items. Nielsen reported that two-thirds (66%) of millennials use the internet to purchase hard-to-find items. And 42% of US millennials check at least 4 sources when deciding on a purchase.

The research suggests that one way to motivate Millennials is to use coupons and discounts. The Nielsen study reported that 40 percent of US millennials buy used items online to save money. Furthermore, 43% of US millennials earning over $75,000 per year use coupons. So using discounts can attract shoppers for all types of products and services.

Increase Your Mobile Offerings

Internet-enabled mobile devices have been growing in prevalence and popularity over the past few years and Millennials have been at the forefront of that change. More people are using their smartphones and tablets as their primary internet device, and by tailoring content to these channels, business owners can target younger demographics more effectively.

As Millennials increasing turn to mobile devices to use the internet, marketers can ride the wave by increasing their mobile offerings. As a start, they should ensure their site and content is mobile friendly. Second, they should consider creating more mobile-friendly content like videos, images and infographics. This sort of fast and engaging content plays well with on-the-go mobile audiences.

Mobile apps are another way that business owners can engage and connect with young adults. Apps give their creator a dedicated audience, and for platforms like eBay and Amazon, mobile commerce have become just as important as the traffic from their main websites. Apps aren't for every business, but those that want to reach Millennials should consider using an app in some form or another.

According to data cited by Loyalty 360, Millennials are 2.6 times more likely than other age group to have used a mobile app. Advertising on mobile apps is a way for business owners to take advantage of the amount of time Millennials spend on mobile devices without paying for developing and maintaining a mobile app.

Mobile marketing can also benefit in-store retailers. By their nature, mobile devices know where their users are, and that can be used to send relevant information to consumers based on their location. This can take the form of local-oriented search results or ads targeted to people within a radius of a location.

Increase E-commerce Efforts

Another way business owners can reach more Millennials is to add more ways for customers to shop online. Millennials like to use ecommerce and while much of that happens on mobile, the majority of e-commerce still happens on desktops and laptops. By improving the size and functionality of their e-commerce solutions, business owners can generate more revenue from shopping savvy Millennials.

The shopping trends seen during the 2015 holiday shopping season are tiny forecasts of how consumers will behave when shopping in 2016. Data from comScore showed that Millennials accounted for a sizable portion of traffic to and revenue from e-commerce websites during Cyber Week 2015.

comScore reported that adult Americans under 34 (i.e. Millennials) accounted for over a quarter (28.5%) of online shoppers via desktop PCs on Cyber Monday 2015, and almost a third (31.6%) of spending. This data shows that businesses will benefit from targeting Millennials for e-commerce advertising campaigns. They are an audience that is looking for ways to buy the things they want online.

2016 will be a great year for businesses that are able to reach their target consumers with relevant and engaging content. The sales numbers show that there is a real interest in doing business online. For more advice on improving your online marketing strategy, read this article with basic SEO tips.